HISD bidding procedures due a new look by board

HISD bidding procedures due new look by boardQuestions of possible partiality prompt the action

ERICKA MELLON, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, August 4, 2011

Houston school board vice president Anna Eastman called Thursday for a review of the district's bidding procedures following recent revelations of close relationships between trustees and vendors.

Public scrutiny of the deals also prompted board president Paula Harris to pledge that she would start abstaining from votes involving her close friend, Nicole West, whose construction firm has received at least $1.9 million from the district.

"I am gravely concerned, and I hope my colleagues will join me in asking for a third-party audit of these processes," Eastman said, noting reports about Harris and board member Larry Marshall.

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Harris said she and West never discuss pending business though they chat often. The two were traveling together in Italy in April during the district's mandatory silent period, when trustees and potential vendors are forbidden from talking about looming deals.

A few months earlier, board members had been sent two emails from the district's then-procurement chief telling them to "cease immediately" talking to potential vendors about bidding to provide painting services, newly obtained records show.

Westco Ventures, a construction company that West started with her husband, Anthony, had bid on the project.

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Within a week or two after Harris returned from Italy with her friend, she joined her board colleagues in approving Westco and three other companies as painting vendors. The deal was worth up to $5 million, with no firm guaranteed the total amount.

The next month, in May, the board approved Westco as one of four vendors to provide fencing services, worth up to $3 million.

The school board agreed in late 2010 to tighten its ethics policy to institute a "code of silence" between trustees and vendors about pending bids. The silent period runs from the time the district sends an email about the start of the bidding process until the board votes.

"No, I never talk of business during the code of silence with anyone," Harris said Thursday. "I probably wasn't aware she (West) had bid on it. We don't talk about what she bids on."

Harris told the Houston Chronicle in June that she paid her own way on the trip to Italy with West and other friends.

Harris said she made a point to keep the receipts after Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole was accused of accepting big gifts from a friend who was a county vendor.

"That was the time the Eversole thing was going on and I remember telling my husband to get those receipts in case something happens," said Harris, who offered in June to send her personal records to the Chronicle but has not produced them.

West also runs an ambulance service, a private investigations firm and a tutoring company that have done business with HISD, district records show.

West and Harris once were partners in a company called Onsight Technology, but they severed ties in March 2008, two months after Harris joined the school board, county records show. West renamed the company Onsite Technology and got work tutoring in HISD.

"I'm not voting on any more of her contracts," Harris said. "And although it's not against the law for me to do so, it gives y'all so much to write about when I do. So, it's to save some ink."

The website Texas Watchdog also has reported on Harris' connections to vendors.

Texas law requires trustees to disclose close familial relationships with vendors but the rules do not address friends.

Harris did not say whether she would abstain from votes involving other friends.

The board hired Harris' political campaign treasurer, attorney Franklin "Frank" Jones Jr., and his law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to negotiate its contract with Superintendent Terry Grier two years ago. Jones' wife, Demetra, who also is friends with Harris, has received thousands of dollars in no-bid work from several HISD schools, according to district records.

Harris also confirmed Thursday that she had contacted the district's chief financial officer, Melinda Garrett, on behalf of Westco and other vendors who had questions about a deal.

HISD policy calls for the board to approve the hiring of most vendors costing a certain amount, but the superintendent is supposed to be responsible for recommending the best picks.

Garrett and Grier were approached by another trustee, Marshall, in January about hiring a health-care consultant, the Chronicle reported this week. Marshall said he has known Houston doctor Kenneth Wells for years, and they had traveled to Costa Rica with a group on an expenses-paid trip to explore cheaper medical options there.

The school board in June authorized staff to negotiate a contract with Wells and his company for up to $640,000. The deal is not final, but Wells proposed charging $600 to $650 an hour.